Meredith + Zach’s Classic Wedding at the Hall of Mirrors
When Meredith + Zach decided on the Hall of Mirrors as their venue, Meredith’s wedding vision was already nearly complete. She had always dreamed of a celebration in the historic room inspired by the Palace at Versailles. The Art Deco architecture and intricate ornamentation was enhanced with classic white florals, hints of greenery, gold accents, and lots of candles. All the stationery details had to match the beauty and opulence of the venue and what better way to convey this than through luxurious foil details!
The main invitation and enclosure cards feature double thick cotton stock with gold and pearl foil floral detail that coordinated with the pearl envelope liner. The suite was sent in cream envelopes addressed in gold calligraphy. All the day of details including ceremony program and menus featured a pearlized finish with gold details.
Wedding day photography by Leppert Photography. Stationery photos by Poeme as noted.
How did you and Zach meet?
Zach and I met at Japp's, a favorite bar of ours in OTR. He was in Law school at UC and I was at Xavier when we first met. He played baseball at Xavier and I played volleyball at Xavier so we had a lot of mutual friends going out for the night. Neither of us remember who started talking to who but we hit it off at the bar and never looked back. Our first real date was at Arthur's, then we got a drink at Dana's and ended the night with a Xavier basketball game.
Photo by poeme
Tell us about the proposal.
Zach and I had been dating for about 4 years before we got engaged. Zach tricked me into thinking we had "family pictures" at the Banks downtown because his family was in town for the weekend. It was pouring rain and I couldn't believe we were still planning on taking pictures in the pouring rain.... The rain cleared and as we waited for his family to show up, Zach got on one knee to propose. It turned out to be a beautiful evening. Our parents were watching from the bridge and taking pictures. I was completely shocked and our parents were completely soaked because they had been waiting on the bridge for us. After the proposal the rest of my family and our best friends were waiting for us at my parents house for a party. It was perfect!
How would you describe the style of your wedding?
I had always dreamt of getting married in the Hall of Mirrors at The Hilton Netherland Plaza downtown in Cincinnati. As soon as we chose this venue my vision had already come to life and we wanted to highlight the natural beauty of the historic hotel. I would describe our wedding as very elegant and classic. I envisioned a room full of white flowers, greenery, and gold accents. Courtenay Lambert Floral and Event Design took this vision to a whole new level.
Photo by poeme
Tell us about your wedding day.
The wedding day was absolutely perfect. I got ready at my I house I grew up in and Zach got ready at the Hilton. We each had 12 people in our wedding party including our siblings and our closest friends so we had our best friends and parents with us all day. The vendors, specifically our wedding planner Elisa MacKenzie, made the day so easy and relaxing and neither of us were worried about a thing. We had a beautiful Mass at Mother of God followed by our reception filled with good food, drinks, and of course dancing. We blinked and the day was over but we have beautiful pictures and videos to relive it every day.
Tell us about your wedding stationery vision.
When my mom and I met with Kristen to pick out the stationery we both trusted Kristen to create beautiful work because she had designed my older sister's invitations. I explained my vision of whites and golds and Kristen nailed it. With Kristen's help we chose gold letterpress on beautiful white paper. I wanted the stationery to be elegant and timeless. From the gold letterpress, to the white embossed flowers, finished with a wax seal and gold calligraphy, it made for the most perfect wedding invitation.
What detail of the wedding was the most important to you?
The detail of the wedding that was most important to us was the actual marriage and finally able to have our dream wedding. Our original wedding date was a year prior so we both were just so happy to be able to get married in front of 300 of our closest family and friends. The wedding Mass was at Mother of God in Covington, KY followed by our dream reception at The Hall of Mirrors. The whole day was magical and ended with a packed dance floor led by the amazing Sly Band.
Creative Partners
Venue: The Hilton Netherland Plaza, Hall of Mirrors | Photography: Laura Leppert | Florist: Courtenay Lambert | Wedding Planner: Elegant Events by Elisa | Cake/Sweets: A Spoon Fulla Sugar | Hair & Makeup: BrideFace | Music: Sly Band | Catering: The Hilton Netherland | Meredith’s Wedding Dress & Bridesmaid Dresses: Carrie Karibo | Videographer: Birdeye Media | Groom’s Tuxedo: Bespoke Tailoring
Who was the person or resource you most leaned on during the planning process?
I was constantly leaning on my mom during the planning process. Our original wedding date was October of 2020 and it was a super tough decision to postpone but we knew we had to if we wanted to have the wedding we wanted. It was a long 2.5 years of planning....My mom and I were up super late many many nights going over plans for the wedding. She kept everything organized and we had a blast planning it together. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.